What to order

[Stuart Z]

Hi

I need to order the wood for a build. I have the plan, is there a simple way to guesstimate what wood to order.

The LMS is 60 miles away so I have to mail order and want to keep the postage down by ordering most everything in one go!

[Hamish]

If you can indicate the model you are proposing to build perhaps somebody may have actual experience and advise. I have found you can never have enough balsa so purchase in excess. Are you able to cut sheet into strips/TE etc?

[Glyn44]

Hi

Always thought it would be nice if that info was included on the plan myself. But yes buy more rather than less.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

For the wing ribs make a template and plan out how many you'll get from a sheet, if it's a tapered wing just be generous with the order, surplus will get used next build.

[Peter Miller]

SOmewhere on this forum there is an article on how to estimate the wood needed for any model.

I can't find it but it is there.

[Peter Miller]

Found it!!!!

**LINK**

[Bob Bertram]

I can't seem to paste on this little machine but use the search box and type : wood'nt you like to know. Ah! Peter beat me to it

Edited By Bob Bertram on 02/11/2016 08:20:39

[Stuart Z]

Thanks guys, really helpful as always!

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[kc]

Peter's article covers the subject well. I have a couple of tricks that I use when estimating.....

Draw a rectangle to represent a balsa sheet and mark off how the various smaller parts might fit, for example the tailplane parts and how much spare there might be for other parts like formers etc. Juggling the shapes around to fit might reduce the material needed ( especially the tapered fin & elevators) , but make sure the grain direction is correct.

Decide whether 3 inch or 4 inch sheets are the most economical for any particular item. Also whether 48 inch sheets might be better ( a 50 inch span wing might use 48 inch sheets best - two 24 inch pieces from a sheet and two spars from each length -remembering that tips are added! )

Double check to see if there is anything you missed - it.s very easy to overlook that the LE & TE are both on top and underside. Easy to order only half as much as needed! Same with spars. Also ply doublers and balsa doublers can be hard to spot. Spar webbing can be easily overlooked but it takes a fair bit of balsa. Underside sheeting is often unnoticed too.

Look to see how much 'scrap' will occur - for example the tapered rear fuselage sides might have lots of scrap that can be usefully employed to avoid buying an extra sheet. Maybe the few 1/8 ribs required can be made from this.

Trying to get a nice lightweight sheet for the tailplane parts will help build a light model.

For anyone new to building make sure you cut the larger parts first. If you make a mistake it's easy to re-use the duff parts to make smaller items. For things like LE sheeting just allocating certain sheets for this by masking tape labels and cutting a little oversize leaving the excess for other areas like centre section sheeting.